JCAHO, NCQA strive to inform consumers
Joint Commission starts new program
Both the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) in Washington, DC, are beefing up efforts to ensure consumers have access to quality of care data.
In October, the commission launched an effort to inform consumers about the data on accredited organizations, which are publicly available.
Through the Quality Check program on the Joint Commission’s Web site, consumers can find out the accreditation status, address, and phone number of an organization, as well as when the next survey is due. Some deeper information is available as well, although it can be tedious to get to. Consumers requesting performance reports can get information on a facility’s overall performance level; its performance level in key areas; areas identified as needing improvement, if any; and for most organizations, a display of how the individual organization compares to other organizations nationally in each performance area.
The Joint Commission also publishes dates of upcoming surveys and consumer brochures to help users choose a hospital, home care provider, nursing home, assisted living community, outpatient surgery center, behavioral health care facility, or laboratory service.
NCQA is working with Consortium Health Plans (CHP), a coalition representing Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans that serve national accounts, to streamline their respective oversight programs and provide "richer" information about quality.
The organizations will coordinate resources and share information in an effort to meet the needs of employer groups and member plans alike. NCQA and CHP also will consider developing standardized requirements in areas such as access and service and e-commerce.
One main focus of the collaboration is NCQA’s expressed interest in evaluating CHP’s access and service standards, which include rigorous measures of physician availability and specify high levels of health plan responsiveness and accuracy in answering member questions. NCQA would observe CHP’s review process and consider incorporating elements of the standards into its accreditation programs.
NCQA and CHP also expect to work together to explore standards related to health plans’ use of the Internet. With the Internet emerging as a primary means of communicating with employers, providers, and members, CHP’s member plans have pressed for standardized requirements related to providing clients with on-line information and the electronic exchange of information, such as enrollment and claims forms.
By promoting a standard set of requirements, the plans expect to provide a greater assurance of quality to employers while allowing plans to use resources more efficiently by reducing duplicative surveys and minimizing expenses devoted to reviews. Currently, NCQA and CHP conduct separate reviews, elements of which overlap; collaboration will allow the organizations to eliminate this redundancy.
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